By Curtis Jones in climbing — 01 Jun 2008

Mt. McKinley (2008) - Day 28

Camp 3 to Base Camp to Talkeetna

Well, it's 3am and a little dark-ish out (it never really gets very dark here), which makes it a little difficult to see the contours in the snow, which consequently makes it a little hard to walk without tripping, but that's not going to stop anyone. It also got kind of windy and snowy while we were hanging out in the posh, but that's mostly subsided now. The plan is to haul it down to base camp, get there early in the morning, and fly out around 9am - which is when the first planes usually arrive.

We're switching from crampons to snowshoes. We've got everything packed up. It's a little more weight than I expected, and we're once again dragging sleds. That was a fond memory I enjoyed forgetting.

Off we go.

Well, we made it down to base camp. It's 9am. That _sucked_. Seriously. My feet hurt more with every step. I basically stumbled into base camp and collapsed on my bag to get off my feed as quickly as possible. I haven't taken off my boots yet, but in my mind I can see my big toenail on my right foot hinged up and digging down into what is sure to be a bloody stub of a toe by this point - the nail jabbing into it with every step. I'm also sure I've got some serious blisters going on. Once I get these boots off, there's no way they're going back on.

Also, in other bad news, base camp is fogged in. Once it clears up, the plans can fly in. Until then, we're stuck waiting ... for an hour or a day ... who knows.

We dragged all of our stuff over to the sled which marks the line for Hudson Air. It was a slow and gruel process for me and my torn up feet. I tried sleeping on my back, but that's not working, so I'm going to roll out my sleeping pad on the snow and try to take a nap.

Whoa. I must be tired. With all of the commotion around camp and the bright light and my aching feet and I think I just slept for a while - until Fede woke me up and told me that we're probably going to be stuck here, so we should set up tents and move into them. Uggh. Fine. Whatever.

I've moved my sleeping pad to the tent and a few other things that I'll need for an over-night stay. Walking is so painful that this took quite a while. Time to go to sleep.

That was crazy. I must have slept for five hours, but it only seemed like a moment. The sound of plane engines woke me up. We were ordered to start tearing down the tents immediately - like an air raid was about to start and we only had minutes to prepare or something. I don't get it. Whatever. Now I've got to lug all of my stuff back to my duffle bag. Fun.

So, it's about 5pm and it's finally my turn to fly off. It takes four planes to transport our group. Talkeetna Air Taxi actually made a round-trip before the first Hudson Air plane made it. But, each and every Hudson Air plane came with a case of beer. Miller Light. And I don't like beer. But I can still understand the glee that it brought to the others. I would have preferred them to show up with a good (or even a cheap) scotch. Or made a nice merlot.

Brian's wife had been waiting for him in Talkeetna for six hours, so he got on the first flight. I had no desire to stand up so I let everyone else go - so I'm getting on the last flight.

Waiting until the last flight paid off. Mike was on my flight, and I got to sit up front - which offers a much better view than the back seats. The scenery on the way back was amazing. Instead of everything being frozen and covered in snow, everything has melted, the rivers are flowing, stuff is blooming and green - it's quite a contrast to how it looked when we flew onto the mountain so long ago.

Once we landed I hobbled out of the plane and started the long task of sorting through my gear, returning the group gear, getting the stuff I stored, figuring out what I would need to take into Talkeetna (toiletries, clean clothes, cell phone, etc.). It's a bit of a bummer that its so late in the day, because I'd really like to text everyone back home and let them know that I got back. I guess that'll have to wait until tomorrow. One more day won't kill them.

With all of our stuff sorted out, we were about to start back to Talkeetna (which is about a fifteen minute walk (or hobble, for me) from the airfield), when some friends of Jerry's (who had a pickup truck with them) offered to give us a lift back to the Teepee. Awesome! It was so great - warm wind blowing through my hair. Sitting down. Back support. The thought of an imminent shower. And real food. And not having to walk for a while. And Talkeetna is _alive_. It's full of senior citizens. I guess this is where they go on vacation or something. It was fairly desolate when we departed a month ago - its a totally different place now. Going to check in to the Teepee, take a shower and meet everyone at the West Rib for dinner.

The shower ran out of hot water. So, I'm half showered now. And I'm walking on the outside edges of my feet. I have these huge blisters across the bottoms of each of my feet. And my toenail wasn't as bad as I thought. It's all bloody, but its very much intact. What I had hoped was going to be an amazing first-shower-in-a-month was somewhat disappointing in that it was so painful to stand.

The hot water finally returned after waiting forty-five minutes. I guess when large groups all return at the same time, they all have showering in mind as their first goal. Shaving forty-plus days of facial hair is a serious chore. Especially so when I loathe having to stand. But, I'm all clean and clean shaven now, and those nasty clothes that I've been wearing for the past month are sealed in a heavy-duty black garbage bag - not to be opened until it is being held above the washing machine back in my apartment building in New York. I have a new motto for Gortex: "Gortex - it keeps the stink in." You see, I had my fleece pants on the entire time. And the Gortex hard-shell pants on over those. So, while I would have been able to smell the stench through the fleece, the gortext was impervious. But the moment I took them off ... whoo ... ripe.

I called Talkeetna Aero and made reservations for a summit flight-seeing tour tomorrow morning. It cost $200. We'll fly in a non-pressurized plane, spiralling up the mountain to the summit and then back down again. We'll have a chance to look at each of the camps along the way. Finally, we'll fly through Ruth's Gorge and back to Talkeetna. Sounds awesome. It'll be a great re-cap for the whole trip, and I might even be able to see the Igloo.

Anyway, I managed to stuff my feet, painfully, into my tennis shoes (they're such a joy to wear instead of boots - even with the blisters), and I'm going to hobble over to the West Rib for some dinner with the team.

Dinner was awesome. The West Rib is awesome. Those burgers and chili cheese fries and all of the other garbage we ate was awesome. Now it's time to sleep on a real mattress for the first time in a very long time.

It's around 3am at 11k and we're about to start the final leg of our trip - back to base camp.

It was foggy and dark-ish, but the temperature seemed tropical, coming down from high camp.

The sun is slowly rising behind us.

I'm there in the middle. We're taking a break. At this point, my right foot is absolutely killing me.

Continuing on down the Kahiltna.

Resting. The sun is rising. We're nearly back to base camp.

McKinley, off in the distance, as seen from base camp.

Just hanging out, waiting for Hudson Air to arrive.

After hours of fog, an airplane finally arrives! Not our airplane, sadly.

Base Camp is a pretty happening place.

The sleds stuck into the ice mark the lines for the various air taxi services. We were first in line for Hudson Air.

Group shot of our expedition team. Fede, John, Mike, Billy, Brian, Eric, Wes, Dan, Yury, Jerry, Curtis (me).

Jerry, showing off his battle wounds.

Hudson Air wasn't the first to show up - in fact, they were the last - but, they brought beer, and that seemed to make everyone feel better.

The view from inside the plane, flying back to Talkeetna.

The glacier.

After flying out of the front range, everything quickly turns green - a color we haven't seen in nearly a month.

More green.

One of the first groups arrives back in Talkeetna.

Yes, almost everyone is back in Talkeetna, but a few of us our still at base camp, waiting for our ride. None of us are in this picture. I think that's McKinley in the background, partially obscured by the clouds.

Looking out of the plane, on the ride back to Talkeetna.

Hudson Air

Brian flew out with the first group. One of the "benefits" of flying out with the last group is that I didn't have to help set up and dry out the tents.

Back in "civilization" ... we can see the runway.

I flew out of base camp with the last of our group. It was good to be back.

Back at the air field, we start sorting through our stuff and returning all of the group gear.

Some of Jerry's friends met us at the hangar and offered us a ride (in the back of their pickup truck) to the hotel. The warm air, sitting, back support, not having to walk - it was a wonderful time.

All cleaned up (I mention this, in case it isn't obvious that we're clean now), we met up at the West Rib to consume as many calories as possible.

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